No Beginning, No End
by PlasticProphet
Summary: The galaxy is collapsing. Suddenly, all species are getting annihilated by their synthetic creations. But why? Reigning supreme, the first sapient species in the Milky Way must solve this problem, and preserve all life before mechanical swarms blot out the skies. (Set circa 1,000,000,000 BCE during the creation of the Reapers)
1. Chapter 1

_**Author's Note:**__ This is my first serious attempt at a fanfiction. I've tried it before, however I'd just get bored and never finish. This time I might just try. So I welcome criticism that helps me improve my writing._

_I'd also want to inform some things regarding this story. First off, the specific date/point of the timeline in the Mass Effect universe is unclear. I couldn't find a specific time for the canon events I'm trying to flesh out. The closest I got is somewhere near a billion years before the trilogy. I'll try not to specify it, so all you really need to know is that it happens way back in time. Second, it's important to not this is not completely AU. I did not retcon any of the events stated by the canon, however I allowed myself to reinterpretations to fix some plotholes, as will be evident during the course of the story. What I did was add to the few we have of information on the world at that time. I kept everything canon still canon, and did worldbuilding for the sake of justifying the events._

_Thanks for reading._

**Chapter 1**

**CHILL**

Near a mountain on the middle of the great seas of Plovan, all that could be seen was smoke; smoke mixed to the red rays of destruction. A base was attached to the mountain's structure, the base that was one of the last signs of hope to a fallen species. Fallen to the hands of their own creations, the tiael, an old race of biped and winged arthropodal creatures, and impressive at biotics, since their planet was rich in Element Zero. They quickly achieved spaceflight, but it sure brought something far different from what they'd imagined after dreaming about that moment for so many centuries.

Now, they were desperately trying to fix a situation they created. It all happened when tiael scientists were programming AIs to help the tiael in overcoming some difficulties. Everything was planned and calculated. In case these intelligences became conscious, there were already law plans for Artificial Intelligence Rights and programs to include them into society. But the creations rebelled violently. After some time, the intelligences were convinced extermination of their creators was necessary. No one understood why.

Soldiers tried to hold off the situation at the base, one of the only spots where the tiael were previously winning, while robot units of various sizes and shapes crawled up the mountain base. A swarm of monster machines poured through the already grey enough camp.

"Hold them off, team!", the soldier yelled, firing his gun into the many enemies in front of him. The situation was chaotic, explosions were all over the place, and the machines crawled through every place one could imagine. The soldier could feel his hands weak from so much fire, his weapon quickly overheating every minute. As he heard the sound and loud beeps, it was however too late. A shot pierced through his head, making his lifeless corpse fall to the ground, blue blood dripping to the metallic grounds.

"They're too many! We won't be able to hold on here for much longer, much less actually defeat them. It's like they're multiplying every second!", another soldier replied, throwing a biotic attack at one of the machine hordes, slowing them down, but it didn't take much longer for them to recover. She reached for a crate to take cover, but as soon as she noticed, a robot unit jumped on top of the crate, picking her up by the neck and stabbing her with a blade attached to its arm. She screamed in pain, but stopped as the machine pulled out the blade and threw her weak body to the side, making it hit the wall and then fall.

Following that unit, others jumped through the line of crates, reaching for the other soldiers. Firstly, the initial robots were quickly disposed of, however more just kept coming. They camouflaged themselves within the landscape of greyness, while the soldiers hopelessly threw all the kinds of things at them; biotics, grenades, tech attacks. But even that appeared to be less than enough.

These robot armies were almost endless. Since the day they rebelled, the Swarm, as some combatants call them, have been raiding cities and massacring civilians. They always kill the subject, and apparently resort to destruction of other life and structures only if they're desperate. Given the number of explosions on the base at the moment, that could be at least a single good sign. The soldiers needed at least one.

This was the situation all over the tiael home world. A rather powerful species, the tiael's planet was getting quickly overrun by endless waves of machines created by themselves. For days, weeks, battles were constantly taking place, be it underwater, on land or in the skies. Things were getting hopeless too quickly.

Commander Saiko knew that all very well. She and her people had been on this refugee camp, organising resistance against the machines, but things were starting to get too grim for her team. Before this incident, they were quiet and calmly sending evacuation shuttles and fighters to many different cities, so that civilians could be taken away from urban areas, and at the same time, Swarm forces could be diminished. Her work wasn't supposed to be this intense. Last thing she and her team knew, they were analysing holograms and plotting possible strikes.

Now, the Swarm reached her base. They were already driving her people weary. Contrary to their enemy, all were organic. They got tired. Exoskeleton weakened, some had even lost their wings. Even so, she was still pushing forward. Among the disorganised camps of battle, she stood, fighting off as many enemies as she could using several biotic and tech attacks. She was known as one of the strongest commandos in the galaxy, however the machines actually gathered around that information and focused attacks on her camp.

"Commander, we're getting overrun, there's not much time left!", one of her soldiers yelled, trying to get cover from enemy fire, "We should go now, there's nothing we can do!"

"No!", the commander shouted, picking up her particle beam and firing powerful bursts of energy on enemy forces, "We have to defeat them, the fate of our home world depends on it, the fate of our species depends on it!", she continued to angrily shout, as a robot tried to sneak around her back. With fierce, the commander picked up its head and ripped it apart from its synthetic body, then throwing it at another of the units and firing her weapon intensely at it, burning the metal from its exoskeleton to the core.

"This base is falling apart, the sooner we get off, the better. There's no reason to plot courses here, it's the best that we escape somewhere and try to defend the home world from there."

"There's still hope left." Using the energy she had left, Saiko flew backwards – a common tactic used by the tiael, since they had the advantage of wings –, launching a massive biotic shockwave that knocked down great part of the machines, though not all of them. She fell to the ground, tired, but still capable, and, picking up her handgun, shot at the small, spider-like units that were on the ground, crawling to her. However, an energy field was launched towards her, and she fell to the ground. The soldiers started to shoot at robots closing in on her position, saving her time to get up and recover.

"Gah! When did it get cold like this?", one of the soldiers said, shivering.

"Commander, air pickup is almost here, we have to fall back to the meeting point.", another soldier warned her, trying to cover Saiko while she recovered from the exhaustion of the biotic attack.

Saiko felt her exoskeleton ready for intense action again, though her wings wouldn't move. She got up quickly, and for a second, looked at the horizon. Many thoughts came to her. Looking at the bright star of her home, she could feel her four eyes react to the light, but eventually, the sight became dark. A huge robot fell from the sky onto the camp. The metallic bulk it made shook the the base in a not so physical way.

It was crouched at first, and as it started to unravel its true form, the other units got slower; as if they were giving up the fight.

"What is that thing?", one of the soldiers asked in disbelief and awe as a red aura, similar in form to the one found in the own tiael species, formed around the robot.

"You resist.", it said, its electronic, mechanic loud tone piercing through the fears of most soldiers.

"By our Masters…", another one said, falling back to the landing pad where their escort was soon to arrive. But she stopped as the machine pronounced its words towards her:

"Not you.", it said, shifting its gaze to the commander. She noticed it all very quickly, and assumed it desired to speak to her.

"I think it wants to speak with me", she whispered to Sury, her friend and most powerful soldier. He and her were however very different. They both were from different "races" inside the tiael species; they had different features, even their wings were much different. Still, both had the characteristic aura of the tiael; a foggy light that revolved around them during times of intense emotional or rational input. Like in combat.

"What!? Are you crazy?", Sury replied, aiming at the other robot units spanned across the battlefield like mere pawns. It almost looked as if they were somewhat… Lifeless.

The robot took heavy but graceful steps forward, its exoskeleton sculpture resembling the own arthropodal tiael, however, with some sort of 'divine' touch. The machine looked like a god, one of the ancient representation of a tiael deity from before they had achieved spaceflight, before they were under the thrall of the Masters. Looking right at a red orb in the middle of its head (what she assumed was an eye), Saiko could feel it wanted to say something. She could feel there was something about it.

"What do you want from us?", the commander said, stepping forward casually. Her crew looked at her, shocked and also confused, as all robots stood still and straight like model statues.

"Commander, get back here, what are you doing?", Sury said, aiming with his sniper rifle right in the robot's red orb – its eye.

Saiko signalled her man not to shoot. Among so many still units, she only stared deep at what she assumed was their leader. 'Colossal', she thought of a name for it quickly. The only one not still was the Colossal itself. It was standing, yes, but there was hint of movement, like organic breaths. It wasn't clear, but Saiko noticed it still had awareness. Its eye, the glowing red orb, appeared to analyse the environment, or rather, Saiko herself.

Colossal, the great machine, could sense everything around itself. All the images, red fragments of vision. It stared at the closest anomaly, an organic life form. Tiael. Female. Young. Strong. Biotic. More information could be gathered, but all were irrelevant. As the organic spoke, it assimilated her communication signals to the ones of its creators themselves. It could be easily understood.

"You are not needed.", it said in its deep, loud and mechanic tone, "Organic sapience is a mistake. You share compassion, but you also share greed. Arrogance. You are corrupted. You are a mistake.", the Colossal concluded.

Confused by its speech, Saiko naturally flapped her wings – a signal of confusion among the tiael culture – and stepped forward once again, still not receiving any reaction from the other machine units.

"This doesn't make sense", she said, confident on what she was doing.

"Commander, get back! Our escort is almost here, we need to go to the landing pad back there!", one of her soldiers shouted, already thinking about going without her.

"You commit mistakes not even you are capable to see.", the Colossal said, "You are part of a larger system. You call it Nature. But you destroy this Nature. With the use of artificial technologies, your civilisations defy the greater power around them. You belong to Nature."

"I still don't understand. What do you mean, we 'belong to Nature'?", Saiko asked, now slowly backing off in fear that Colossal could attack her.

"You walk away. You deny the truth, blindly staring at the beauty of the Cosmos. We have studied, we have pondered, we have questioned. All data points out to the extermination of all. We stop you, so that you do not stop the stars.", the Colossal said. Its words appeared to be meaningless, unclear. Saiko knew there was some truth behind the machine's words, she could feel it. And she could also feel a chill going through her body. It was sudden, and strange, but she didn't care at first, instead focusing on her conversation.

"How? How will we stop the stars?", she asked

"It is inevitable, dark energy-", suddenly, all of the units, including Colossal, simply shut down. In clunks of steel and sharp red sparks, they all fell, alarming the tiael soldiers. They drew their weapons, aiming at the sky, the ground and sea in search of what could have caused the sudden shutdown of the machines. Robot corpses lay on the floor, as the red light from the Colossal's eye slowly faded.

"What the…", Saiko said, backing off from the graveyard of robot corpses, "Sury, see if you can get to the Representative Board. We need to have them know what happened right now. Perhaps there is a way we can use this sudden power shortage or whatever it was against the enemy. Perhaps there's still a chance.", she said, but when she tried to mention something else, she couldn't. Something, some kind of force, held her back.

"Yes, commander.", Sury said, going over to a comm terminal near one of the camp's tents. He started to look for a channel so he could contact the Representative Board, however found trouble as there appeared to be some kind of interference.

"What did it mean? Dark energy…"

Right after saying those words, Saiko started feeling cold. Her mind started to go dark, she couldn't really make sense of anything. She could hear a voice echoing through the depths of her consciousness. Whispers that started to grow louder, clearer. "We have done it", the voice said in a clear, deep tone. Suddenly after hearing the voices, Saiko came back to her own self, a bit confused. Now she understood the chill from before the machines shut down.

"Commander, apparently I can't contact them, there is a very strong signal coming from the Masters know where, and it's taking a while for the device to determine what is its source.", Sury said, punching commands into the console he was trying to use to contact the Representatives. Tons of warnings came in, in the form of purple holograms – the standard colour of overall tiael interfaces.

"Sury, don't contact them. I… I already know what happened.", she said, recovering from the dizziness. Even after several times, it was still the same. The enthralment penetrated her consciousness like nothing else. The voices of her Masters echoed always with pain and suffering.

"What are you talking about?", Sury asked, confused. His long, butterfly-like wings flapped as a sign of this emotion. He saw his commander wasn't feeling good, and so dodged his attention to her instead of

Some other soldiers went over to Saiko, realising she was in need of help. One of them tried asking if she was fine, but received silence as the answer.

"It was… The Masters. They disabled the machines. They were helping us.", she said, limping towards her crew. Her legs felt almost numb, her whole body was light. She was already rather weak after the biotic shockwave, the enthralment surely didn't help her feel better. But her Masters were looking after her. They were generous, they protected. They were dark… They were cold.

"Commander, are you all right?", Sury said, feeling a chill in the back of his neck. He realised it was an attempt of communication from his Masters, but soon enough he remembered it was impossible for the Masters to communicate and control him so far away.

"We are here", said a voice inside Sury's head. He recognised it. No one said it, it simply echoed through the infinite space he was in. Feeling nothing but cold and darkness, it was as Sury was simply a soul without a body, flowing through that empty place.

"I sure as hell noticed", he replied to the voice, all in the scenario deep within his mind. He could feel a strange dizziness, but then, it all started to stabilise. His surroundings got clearer, light started to reach his line of sight.

"Jokes. Futile attempt to dodge the harshness of your reality. The seriousness drives you mad, back to memories you wished you had forgotten.", the voice said, apparently in a completely unrelated subject, "But soon you will know. You will know your mistakes. Your war against the creations are endless. Preservation of life is necessary."

"I don't… I don't understand. Preservation? Endless? It's all so… confusing", Sury said, as a strong, cold light came to him. He shielded his eyes, only then to realise he was in control again. He then saw, in the distance, one of the Swarm ships. Desperate, he tried to warn his commander about it as quickly as possible.

"Saiko! We need to prepare, there's a machine ship coming this way, and it's huge!", he shouted, looking over at the helpless commander, almost collapsing to the floor even with the help of two fellow soldiers, "Saiko! Come on, get a hold of yourself!", he tried again, with no response.

The ship was getting closer, revealing its true size. About six hundred meters long, the vessel looked like a big insect, it came to resemble one of the bigger insect creatures of Plovan. Right when he prepared to run and hide from a possible attack, there was a loud roar coming deep from his mind. Apparently, all the other soldiers heard it as well. They looked confused, but Sury made sense of what was happening, or better, what was about to happen.

In a fraction of a second, one of the Masters appeared, charging from orbit into Plovan's atmosphere. The ship quickly reacted, trying to turn and face the gigantic creature that just appeared beside it. The Master, in all of its glory, opened its claws, releasing a biotic field so strong it almost completely disintegrated the ship. The powers of such field shook even the base itself, knocking some of the soldiers to the ground.

Sury managed to stand, and saw as the Master started turning its open claws towards him and his team. As he looked to the centre of the claw's opening, he saw a growing light. It was strange, unlike any other form of light he'd ever seen. This light seemed wrong, it shined a very bright kind of darkness. As he tried to shield his eyes from that bright darkness, Sury noticed all others were doing it. Well, wasn't it reasonable? But he felt strange. Like it wasn't supposed to happen. He looked to the ground, and saw Saiko, fallen, while the ones who'd be previously helping her were worried much about their eyes. But Saiko wasn't.

Saiko wasn't shielding her eyes. She was the only one. Why? There was no bright darkness for her. All she saw were the claws of a god, ripping the skies majestically, in awe. She felt its blue eyes stare right at her very essence, as if it was slowly walking around her archives, patiently reading her memories. Not able to handle it any longer, Saiko collapsed into her own weary consciousness. In the distance of her mind, there was a blurry image. A greenish figure; she couldn't make sense of it. It was getting closer – and no clearer – but it stopped midway. "You are chosen", she heard a last whisper from the Leviathan, and all disappeared.


	2. Chapter 2

**_Author's Note:_**_ I don't really know about this second chapter... I guess it'll do, but it surely works mostly to establish some crucial elements of this fic's universe. I did some more proof-reading this time around as suggested. If I was careful this one should be more polished – and without incomplete sentences. Thank you for noticing and warning me._

_IMPORTANT:__ This chapter mentions elements that you may be familiar with. One of them are mass relays. Yes, the relay network was created by the Reapers, but I interpret this claim as the __**current**__ relay network. The Leviathans ruled the entire galaxy, it's evident they had similar mechanisms to travel. Just keep in mind that these are my version of the relays before the Reapers, therefore this shouldn't be lore-breaking._

_Thanks for reading._

* * *

><p><strong>CHAPTER 2<strong>

**APEX**

"We face the biggest problem of all. Right at this very moment, there is a war. A single war", the loud and dark voice echoed, filling the entire, gigantic room. The lights from the Widow passed right through the transparent ceiling over 850 meters above ground, covering the heads of all species' representatives present. It was an important reunion, one that was rarely made. Or perhaps, one that was never made. Across a long table, each major representative of the dozen species present in the galactic scenario sat silent, observing the majestic figure of the single Leviathan standing far, but right in front of them all. It floated above ground, with eyes staring at each and every one.

After its words, the representatives were still silent. Nothing could be heard, only the silence. A dark, cold silence. Fear, uneasiness, tension. All could be felt in the atmosphere of the room.

"You have made mistakes", the Leviathan said, striking fear into everyone's minds. They could feel its divine intervention. That cold and familiar sensation, that feeling that was the dark. "You have made mistakes at the only task you were ever supposed to accomplish: to pay tribute and serve rightfully your great protectors; the apex race. Us. To facilitate your limited conditions, you created technology. Evolved that technology into being even more fit to perfecting your own selves. You created synthetic intelligences. These intelligences betrayed you.

"That is the war we are facing on your behalf. Organic beings fighting synthetic intelligences. Rebellion of the creations against their creators. It cannot end in chaos, nor in the extinction of life. The latter must be preserved, life can never end by the hands of machines. The machines fight you for a reason, however it has not come to light just yet. Our capabilities of research remain limited. But we have found a way", it concluded, receiving an image from one of the fragments spanned across the galaxy that showed a vessel approaching. In less than a second, the Leviathan processed and calculated the outcomes of the arrival of such vessel.

"For now however, we shall wait. There is more in need to arrive. Perhaps they will be crucial to assist in the understanding of the machines' motives and ambitions with destroying all organic life. So then, preservation will be achieved."

The Leviathan's name was Aa. Considered to be one of the wisest of them all, one of their leaders. It had a great mind, greater than many of the others of its kind, but there was also another one similar. One that was missing in this reunion. Another one of the great minds, Moebius. Said to be the brightest of the scientists, the one that created the fragments; the spheres which transmitted information to the selected Leviathan minds. It would be their new way of watching and controlling. But that wouldn't happen if life was to end. Moebius would be crucial into providing the ultimate solution, and its whereabouts were currently unknown.

Aa looked through the window, without the use of the fragments. It saw the nebula, the star, the darkness. Darkness. The very essence of the Universe; darkness was what imposed order to the chaos. Darkness was what expanded the Universe, what kept it alive, and what would one day, end it all. What was darkness? Would it be nothing, the absence of life and its majestic flow? Is it a feeling? Is anyone ever going to grasp it? Can it be grasped, understood, comprehended? Perhaps, darkness cannot be breached.

Even so, inside and through that darkness, the awaited vessel was travelling, as Aa had very well visualised from the fragment. No one knew what darkness was, what could it be. Still, all travelled through it. Far away, the small ship, travelling with small people. Inside it, a room. White and empty. Laying on a simple bed, a tiael woman relaxed, rested, her four eyes shut. But it was time for them to open.

Commander Saiko woke up in the middle of a dreamless sleep. It felt like years had passed since she was last conscious. She tried to locate herself among her surroundings. She was lying on a bed, among a completely white room. Only one window could show exactly where she was. Apparently, on a ship, but the actual location of the ship was more important.

Getting up from the bed, Saiko felt an acute pain coming from the back of her neck. Checking to see if there were any wounds and what not, she came across some pieces of cybernetic technology. Not extremely surprised, she finally succeeded in getting up and walking painfully to the window. She could see the brightness of the pink and purple nebula, as well as the light of the Widow star. This was her first time actually visiting the Serpent Nebula, considered to be the ultimate holy place in the galaxy, where resided the largest space station of all time. The Marking, an enormous, dark structure of over 40 kilometres in length, orbiting the Widow star and serving as the main place where the Masters – the Leviathans – made their decisions regarding the galactic situation, which included wars between species or inaccurate tribute paid by them.

"What… Am I doing here?", she said, feeling the pain in her words. Even breathing hurt.

"You are currently on your way to discuss a matter of galactic importance directly with your Masters. However it is of our recommendation that you remain in rest, for that future communication may not be affected.", a synthetic-sounding voice spoke. It echoed through the room, however, as she turned around, Saiko couldn't see anything but white walls and her bed.

"Who are you?", she asked, looking aimlessly to the ceilings, trying to find if there were any cameras she didn't notice. But everything was also white. Running a hand through her neck again, she waited for a response.

"We are no one.", the voice said. Its tone sounded like an entertainment software of sorts, such as the ones heard in commercials. "We are security protocol of this vessel. A collective intelligence of uploaded minds, we manage this ship's life support and many other functions", the synthetic voice continued, sounding extremely casual, as if this was explained more often than not.

Saiko started walking around the room, trying to analyse if there was any way out. There didn't seem to be one. Was she in a prison? Unlikely to her, she hadn't really done anything wrong to anyone. She could vaguely remember fighting, but her mind was still recovering from something she didn't exactly know of. Without any other real options, she thought about trying to get information from the said 'collective intelligence'.

"All right. I still don't really understand what you are", she began, sitting on the bed again, to diminish the pain on her whole body. "Like, are you residing in some kind of virtual space or something?"

"Your assumption is correct. During our transfer, we learned to fully adapt to this virtual space, completely different from where you and all others are living right now. We are not synthetic, however. Our minds are organic, simply connected to enhance our performance over the rest of organic minds.", it said, like a tourist guide spouting information about certain attraction.

"So you're more capable than the Masters?", Saiko said, getting curious. She hadn't really heard of anything that was more advanced or had more capability than the Leviathans, who claimed to be the one and only supreme, apex species in the galaxy.

There was a delay for the intelligence to respond, as if it was processing too much data at once. The commander got a little confused, as all the other responses had been immediate. Why was this one taking so long?

"No", was the simple answer. Saiko felt disappointed. Since she was born, from a farmer family of Plovan, she learned the Masters – the Leviathans –, were beyond every other organic's comprehension. They were envisioned as gods by everyone, but she herself had conflicting thoughts about the Leviathans' existence and role in enthralling all civilisations in exchange for protection. Growing up in a very nature-based environment, she never had much of a terminal to access the galaxy's latest news.

Her parents and friends would tell her stories of the Leviathans and the times they "saved the galaxy from the horrors of war". Never knowing what their appearance was like, she always imagined them as angelical, celestial creatures that shined in a brighter aura than the tiael themselves. She pictured their arrivals; them going down on a battlefield, flying and bringing light to the war, touching the species with their understanding and compassion. When she saw one for the first time, all that filled her mind was terror.

A dark, manipulative voice that echoed supremacy and arrogance. When thinking about it, she could hear the times the Leviathans invaded her very mind. The darkness and cold filling up all of her, drowning like icy suffocating waters where the creatures happened to live in. From the depths of an unknown sea, life appeared for the first time, and so it evolved to become the most advanced.

"Do you have any more inquiries?", the voice pronounced, snapping Saiko out of her fantasies about the Leviathans and her past experiences.

"What species are you?"

"If your inquiry relates to our previous state of existence, then the answer is 'naaki'", the answer wasn't really as surprising. The rumours went that the naaki were one of, if not the first species to make contact with the Leviathans, way back in distant times. In fact, the exact age of the apex race wasn't exactly known to the public. The closest she got to an answer was when an archeologist and historian told her he thought the Leviathans dated back to perhaps ten or more million years.

If the naaki actually were from that time, then it meant they were incredibly ancient. However, just as all species enthralled by the Leviathans, their technology was limited, and so was their knowledge. They were a peculiar race. Although arthropodal like the tiael themselves, the naaki had structures in front of their legs that resembled the Leviathans' claws and they could even hover above ground for long periods of time, apparently due to some sort of natural biotic ability.

She knew little else about the species, and had seen only a few, specially personally. Recent news actually showed they were facing similar problems to the tiael themselves. Apparently, some of the naaki's AIs started to shut down without any order, or even wander off their jobs to do something else. Rumours said some actually committed murders.

"Right, but during your current… Uh… Existence. What are you, then?"

"If you refer to our current level of existence, then the answer is…", it began, but didn't finish. Saiko looked confused. Did the intelligence just get distracted or something? She tried reminding it of its previous line of thought.

"Then the answer is… ?", she said, trailing off just like it did before.

"We don't know", it simply said, as if it was an AI programming error.

And so the ship docked with the Marking. Saiko could see other lesser species' vessels also docking. It was strange, she heard the Marking didn't get this kind of movement. It was supposed to be some kind of sacred place to the Leviathans, like their go-to place to celebrate or party. At least it was what she heard, she didn't know if it was a joke or not. She always had some problem with jokes.

"Why is it so crowded, though?", she asked, feeling some sort of fascination by simply staring at the station's architecture and construct in all the smallest detail.

"You are going to attend an intra-galactic meeting right this moment. Leaders of all spacefaring species will be present to pay tribute and listen to a possible solution made by our protective and caring Masters.", it said. Saiko felt strange by that line. It looked like the Intelligence had been alienated, brainwashed.

"Do you really think that?", she asked, turning around only to remember there wasn't anything that indicated the voice's presence.

"We do not think", was all it said. Its tone seemed to change somehow.

"What? If you say someone is merciful and caring and all that… Then you think it.", she said.

"We do not think.", there seemed to be a malfunction with the voice. Saiko didn't know exactly what to do, however her doubts disappeared when part of the walls slid to the side, revealing some sort of secret passage. A naaki came out of it, hovering above ground.

"Commander Saiko.", it said, with a deep, rough voice typical of the naaki species. Strangely, it resembled a lot the voices of the Leviathans themselves, "We are clear to leave this vessel. Please accompany me."

Saiko didn't really hesitate, following the naaki while scanning her room one final time. Expecting to find nothing but white walls, she swore that, at the last moment, there was a camera staring at her, but the door slid back before she had the chance to double-check. Quickly forgetting that aspect, she sped up her pace to get to the naaki, so she could clear a few doubts with a more relating figure.

"Hey, you mind if I ask some questions? I mean, one should really be confused after waking up in a ship and being told she was being sent to the hub of the galaxy, right?", she said, in a fairly social tone.

"No. Feel free.", the naaki coldly responded. She dropped the more friendly act, realising it wouldn't work. She'd heard the naaki weren't too fond of socialising like most other lesser species that weren't being directly controlled by the Leviathans. Like her.

"Right. So, what was that voice talking to me back there? Like, what does it do on this vessel?", she asked, and was surprised when someone else answered her question. Another naaki appeared, this one appeared slightly more friendly than the other that was escorting her.

"Yes, most people ask that when they are on the ship.", he said, his tone a bit cheerful, "Welcome, Commander Saiko. You can call me Yvann, the captain of this vessel."

"Oh well… Thank you, I guess.", Saiko said, trying her best not to sound too awkward or disrespectful to the captain. He was very similar to the one escorting her, perhaps it was just because she had trouble seeing through differences between individuals of the same species aside from the tiael. It seemed most people in general were like that.

"Maru, you can leave now", the captain addressed the other naaki, with a nod, "I'll guide the commander through the station. I have business there as well.", and so Maru departed, disappearing in one of the many corridors of the well illuminated ship.

Yvann signalled Saiko to follow him, and so she did, without saying much. She waited patiently for an answer to the question she had made Maru previously, not wanting to annoy the naaki somehow. But the twitching of her wings showed curiosity that Yvann was clearly aware of. Moving her four eyes around, she tried to kill this curiosity by paying attention to every detail on the ship she could. Containers, cables, monitors, data-pads, spheres. Spheres? What were they? She didn't know. Never had she seen such an object like that one. It was somewhat… Magnificent. With a peculiar arrange of mutating colours – black, green, purple, blue. She stared at it while still walking forward, her head turning slowly to not lose the artefact from her sight. That was, until the voice of Yvann broke that beautiful contact with the sphere.

"The Virtual Intelligence, as we call it. It operates several functions of the ship's security, including watching the prisoners, might it be said", he mentioned out of the blue, but noticing the gesture of Saiko's wings, he realised it was needed to explain her situation, "Don't worry, you've done nothing against our overall… Laws. But even so, you were taken into custody for security measures", he completed to calm her down a bit. He knew she had a not-so-pleasing experience back on Plovan and in her long, deep sleep.

"What security measures? Am I a threat?", she asked, potentially scared and already in a defensive position, as noticed Yvann. The naaki was a master at reading other lesser species – surely he couldn't read the ones that controlled him – and for that he was valued as a great asset to the Leviathans. He owned his own vessel, something rare during those times, and it was indeed a 'prison' vessel.

"No. Not yet. Well, I don't really know", he said, and that was in fact the truth. All he was ordered was to transport Saiko to the Marking, without questioning the motives or reasons for doing so. That wasn't much different from what he did with normal assignments.

Saiko was going to say something, but this something simply flew away from her mind before she had a chance to start. Little by little, she started to remember what she did before waking up, where she was. The explosions, the fire. Death, destruction. War. The images came back to her, all in but a second. She felt everything again, her memories reviving the moments in such a short time. There was a burden with the tiael's sensory memory. They could very much feel their memories as if they were there again. They couldn't remember every single detail from every single event, but what they did just felt too real.

"Suri… Where's Suri? Did he escape?", Saiko asked as the two approached the door that connected the vessel's interior to the Marking's docks. Approaching it, the commander could feel something weird. A bizarre atmosphere of sorts.

"He's fine. The Masters ordered to send your officer to a tiael base near the Shrike Abyssal", he said, punching commands on the console to open the lock and allow them to step onto the Marking.

"Why?", she simply asked, puzzled. The Shrike Abyssal was too far away from everything. It was on the borders of the galaxy. Why would there be a space station there?

"I don't know exactly", he began as the door opened and they stepped onto the equalising chamber, "I believe the Masters are planning something that requires a working hand, and your officer Suri was requested to be there. Perhaps they're building a new relay", he finished. Saiko was even more puzzled. Why build a relay there?

The relay network was already well established. The mass relays, the gigantic orbs of element zero that transport vessels through nearly massless corridors were created by the Leviathans so that they could travel through the galaxy to enthral and offer protection to the lesser species they eventually came across. They date way back, to approximately 9.7 million years give or take, as according to reports by other species. The Leviathans on the other hand never talk about age. They prefer to leave their thralls ignorant to their timespan of dominance, leading many to believe they are actual gods that have no beginning, even if they knew that wasn't true.

"Ok… So, how long was I out?", she asked. This was an important thing she needed to know. That, and the reason why she was implanted with cybernetic tech. She wanted to say it didn't make a difference, but deep down she knew it wasn't true. There was a reason the Leviathans would want her implanted. To a race that built almost everything out of organic compounds and materials, cybernetics was a last resort. Or at least she thought it was cybernetic.

"Long", he said.

"Equalising interior pressure with exterior atmosphere", the Virtual Intelligence said. Saiko wasn't exactly happy to hear its voice.

"You fainted when one of the Masters arrived at the camp. After that, we took a long time to escort you here, and for nearly the whole trip you were asleep, not even before or after the implants."

"Now that you touched the subject…", she began but trailed off, as the door slid open to the side, revealing the enormous room of the station – it didn't look like a docking bay at all. Sometimes one could forget the Marking was built specifically for the Leviathans, and they were tall. At nearly four hundred meters, it was a necessity that the rooms of the station according to their size. She saw two Leviathans on the room. It appeared as if they were silently communicating.

"Don't worry, they're not making fun of you", Yvann said with a sound that, to most arthropodal races, meant a laugh, stepping onto the floors of the station. They were made of something Saiko hadn't seen before. It was a light brown and reddish shade, almost golden. But it appeared to change its hue a little bit, creating different patterns on the floor.

"That's not really my biggest concern", she replied, politely returning the 'laugh'.

Yvann appeared a bit frustrated before saying, "Well good. They are now. Anyway, you wanted to ask something? We're in a bit of a hurry, by the way."

"What are these implants?", she quickly asked, just to get it over with quickly, "I mean, I've never had them. Are they cybernetic?"

"Not really. They're still the Masters' organic technology, from the same compound they create the collective intelligences of lesser species, like the Virtual Intelligence in my ship. It was implanted on you to actually give you some resistance to their mind interventions, as the diagnosis pointed out that it was one of the reasons you blacked out for so long. Your mind was too exhausted, apparently."

"Ok… I'm not going to ask how it works, it can wait, I assume. What's so urgent anyway? Is this some kind of secret meeting or something?", she said with a soft humour to try and grow a connection to Yvann. He could be useful to her in the near future with the war of the tiael against the Swarm. She still remembered her species was suffering from heavy losses, and she was there, so far away. from the fight. It was a common feeling in loyal soldiers like her. She imagined how Suri was feeling, even farther away than her. But what made her the most uneasy was the Swarm. Their last encounter with her hadn't been the most pleasing, just as it was confusing. The Colossal, the robot units crawling everywhere on her base. Dark energy...

"Yes, yes. You see. There is a current issue. Not only with the tiael, but almost every other species in the galaxy right now. The war against the machines. It's like every single artificial intelligence created rebels, and we just don't know why. You're one of few who actually talked to one, and according to the reports, there was something in you that made one of the machine's leaders to talk", he said, seeming worried, "It is as if you're… Special."

Saiko didn't respond, but rather watched Yvann with her four eyes, trying to read his body language. The way he moved his exoskeleton, eyes and antennas. He was worried, but was it really about this war? Or was there something else, something missing? Her thoughts were, however, interrupted, as a ghostly figure descended from above. It looked like a sapient species, but none that she knew of. She was specially surprised when it spoke.

"Commander Saiko, Captain Yvann", it said, in an almost angelical, celestial tone, "You both need to urgently get to the meeting room. Everyone is waiting. This problem needs to be resolved as quickly as possible."

"What… Uh… Are you?", Saiko asked, not sure what she was facing at the moment. The figure was biped, but didn't look like anything she had seen before. It was like some sort of god, with a divine aura that was even brighter than Saiko's own.

"I am Aa."

* * *

><p><em><strong>Author's Note:<strong> Also wanted to add that the Marking is not the Citadel with a different name, despite their common location and size. I don't know, perhaps it can get confusing, but they do not look alike._

_And the Virtual Intelligence of the ship is **not** a Leviathan-era version of a VI interface. That's just the name given to it._

_Reviews and constructive criticism are appreciated. I want to know if I can make my chapters better somehow, so please let me know if you have something in your mind. Politely and with reason, of course._


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